


Prior Restraint

by MinamotoHierophant



Series: Mina's RP Auditions [7]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Contemplated suicide, Editor Xander, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Mafia Setting, Mentioned Nohrian Siblings, Self-Reflection, Short One Shot, subtle Xanlow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:55:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27674363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MinamotoHierophant/pseuds/MinamotoHierophant
Summary: Xander stays late to finish the end of his to-do list and gets to thinking as he does.
Series: Mina's RP Auditions [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2022797
Kudos: 5





	Prior Restraint

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jake from Statefarm](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Jake+from+Statefarm).



> This is especially for Jake; love you, honey <3

The Tiffany lamp cast a deceptively warm glow over the mahogany desk laden with papers. The soft ticking of a wall clock was the only sound to be heard, as deft fingers flew over the dark keyboard with the ease of years of practice. The typing stopped.

Xander looks at his long to-do-list for the day: meeting with section editors, editorial column, organize op-eds, blackmail, update sports page, murder, find front-page photo credit, buy Laslow ballet tickets, and… review for prior restraint. It was, by all accounts, a normal day for him, except for that last item. It was his least favorite part of the newspaper portion of his job. He had to read and reread every last line for any trace of dissent or discord that might harm the mafia.

He hated it almost as passionately as he hated killing in cold blood, yet both were part of his to-do list regularly. It hadn’t been until he took a few journalism classes in college that he had learned that newspapers weren’t supposed to be censored. He believed in free and equal speech, yet he was it’s most ardent oppressor within Nohr. Xander had learned a long time ago not to try to solve the enigmas which made up his life.

As he scrolled through the virtual layout of the many newspapers which Königlich Publishing controlled, Xander recalled his meeting with the section editors earlier. Laslow had been kind enough to drive him there, as the bus line wouldn’t take him to the classy five-star restaurant where the dinner meeting was held. He had also been kind enough to dispose of the body of the man whose payment was overdue. Xander had overheard his male secretary blabbering on and on about how excited he was to finally see the legendary Nohrian ballet. So when his editorial meeting was scheduled for the same date, he personally bought the replacement tickets. There were some perks to the damned job after all. He chuckled to himself quietly, imagining Laslow’s surprise when he saw them on his desk. 

Laslow was just one more enigma to add to his life’s list. Xander admitted that his initial expectations had been rather low, given his lack of credentials. However, he could type almost as fast as Xander did and was surprisingly punctual. He was one of the few that could make the newspaper mogul genuinely smile in this cold, dark world he ruled.

Cold and dark. Those two words always went together in his mind. Cold and dark; his mother’s eyes as she lay dying, the eyes of the first man he’d killed, the eyes of every human he’d killed since, the view outside his window. He’d accepted after his mother’s death that his life would be cold and dark. 

That’s why when Camilla, and Leo, and Elise, and Corrin had entered his life, they lit up his life as nothing else could. Whenever father flew into one of his rages, they were why he stepped in and took the blows in their place. They were why he acted proactively to restrain any threat to their security before it could occur. They were why he kept living when he was so tempted to just make it all stop. Camilla, Leo, Corrin, Elise; each one was a light unto his life in their own unique and special way that he wouldn’t, couldn’t give up for anything in the world.

Xander paused, setting his glasses on the desk before running his thumb along the lower edge of his eyelid to wipe away the tear he hadn’t realized he’d shed. He was the masthead cutting through the gloom of the only world they had ever known. He was their prior restraint.


End file.
